I too just received my opus and been busy figuring things out. I'll do my best with your questions and add a few of my own, but it sounds like you may have some isolated issues.
1. Yes, but I was expecting this based on previous posts.
2. I agree. In fact, I didn't realize any of my tracks were bad until stumbling upon them later. The post-rip message only pops up for a few seconds--it's unreasonable to expect one to sit and monitor the entire import process, particularly in the beginning when dealing with hundreds of cds. I'd prefer a message that remained on screen until it got user acknowledgment. Of course, the response you'll hear from many is to rip externally and then import, which is fine for many, but not a satisfactory solution in my opinion. The unit was designed to import directly and I don't want to sit around my computer (or even be shuttling back and forth) to babysit the process--I want to spend that time in my listening room listening to my music while I'm loading it. Again, I understand the benefits of ripping externally, but both methods are advertised and both should work.
3. Yes, my left side runs hot as well, both top and bottom, but it seems to be only when ripping. I raised the unit up on a couple of rubber casters to let it breathe. Haven't noticed any problems from this heat though.
4. Hmm. I tested this and mine was cool in the morning. I've only used the standby button so far.
5. Haven't tried this.
6. That doesn't sound right/good. Mine makes no rattling noises when I pick it up.
7. My remote works fine.
8. I've only had one or two albums out of a few hundred imports so far that brought back no art. I've actually been surprised and impressed with the success rate though some of them have been rather amusing. Pretty simple to get online and download the correct art, though I understand it would be frustrating if no art was appearing. It's sounding more like you've got an oddball.
9. Don't recall; not in front of mine now.
10. Like I said, this is the way I've been doing it, and stubbornly want to keep doing it, though I'm a little disappointed in the process and understand why others encourage ripping externally. Some of this leads into my own questions for the group:
In general, I'm disappointed in Maestro's ability to manage playback. Granted, I was warned about its limitations, but I was expecting to at least use it for simple functions like switching shuffle on or off, pausing, skipping tracks, etc. I guess I'm now confused as to how others are using their Nokias and Iphones as a remote for this thing. On the Olive site itself, it shows an iphone with the actual Opus screen being displayed, so that you could control it from another room just as you would at the touchscreen. How does one do this? I can only pull up Maestro from my PC and pick a track or an album or playlist to play. I'm sorry if I'm forgetting if this has been covered/explained already earlier.
Other issues:
1. Can I not move tracks around within an album in Maestro? For example, I tried to merge both discs of The White Album, but it decided to put track 1 of Disc 2 as track 2, track 2 as track 4, etc. The manual stated it would append the tracks of disc 2 to the end of disc 1. It didn't, and I was unable to move them afterward.
2. As stated above, more transparency needed with the success/failure of importing.
3. I can't seem to add an entire album to a playlist from the opus screen, short of adding each track individually. Is this possible or must I go through Maestro?
4. This is very minor, but when playing/shuffling all albums, must one always start the first album on the list and then hit shuffle. Can you set the shuffle on as a default for playing all albums or must I always hear the first several seconds of 330,0003 Crossdressers from Beyond the Rig Veda?
5. Based on earlier posts regarding balance irregularities, I tested both L and R channels and was surprised to hear some bleed through on each when they were supposedly "off." E.g. when the knob was turned entirely to the right, I could still hear a little sound from the left. I am not a technician, nor a true audiophile so perhaps this is something I've missed in the past, but I don't believe my other components do this.
Things I'd like to see:
1. A shuffle by album feature that would play an entire album, then randomly choose another.
2. More agility in the browse by album cover art feature. Something akin to the flip scroll on an ipod. I understand this is the premise, but it's still slow/cumbersome.
3. A volume leveling feature on import that would make volume more uniform from album to album on playback. Another check I suppose in the "rip externally" column? I just don't think we should have to settle for that.
Please don't think I'm unhappy however. I love the sound, and I love the shuffle by album feature: I'm hearing songs/albums again that I had just stopped putting in at some point. For the most part, the importing has gone smoothly, though I suppose I now need to double check everything for bad tracks. But I'm happy.
is just an ordinary DAC tomorrow
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